Order of battle for Convoy SC 7
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/49/HMS_Fowey_%28F15%29.jpg/220px-HMS_Fowey_%28F15%29.jpg)
Convoy SC 7 was the seventh of the SC convoys, bound from Sydney, Nova Scotia across the North Atlantic to British ports, mainly Liverpool.[1] They were called SC as their departure point was designated Sydney, Cape Breton to avoid confusion with Sydney in Australia.[2] The convoys formed part of the battle of the Atlantic during the Second World War. Large numbers of merchant ships travelled with naval escorts to protect against U-boat attacks. Th convoys were often slow, the merchantmen often only being capable of a speed of around 8 kn (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) and so were particularly vulnerable to attack.[2] This problem was exacerbated by a shortage of suitable escorts from either the Royal Canadian Navy or the Royal Navy early in the war.[3]
Convoy SC 7 left Sydney on 5 October 1940, consisting of 36 freighters initially escorted by the Canadian armed yacht HMCS Elk and the British sloop HMS Scarborough.[4] Having seen the convoy out of Canadian waters, Elk turned back on 7 October, leaving the convoy to spend three-quarters of the crossing escorted by Scarborough.[4] SS Winona had developed engine problems and also turned back.[4] The crossing was uneventful, the only casualty being SS Trevisa, which straggled behind the convoy and was torpedoed and sunk near Rockall on 16 October by U-124.[5]
The main convoy was spotted the following day by U-38, which sank SS Aenos.[6] Further sporadic attacks continued that day and the following, despite the arrival of the sloop HMS Fowey and the corvette HMS Bluebell. The night of 18/19 October saw the use of the wolf pack tactic by the U-boats. Five U-boats; U-46, U-99, U-100, U-101 and U-123 attacked together, overwhelming the escorts, despite being reinforced by HMS Leith and Heartsease.[7] They sank 16 ships in a six-hours, bringing the total to twenty freighters sunk and a total tonnage lost of 79,592 gross registered tons. The U-boats only broke off their attacks to intercept convoy HX 79, which had arrived in the area. They went on to sink a further 12 ships from this convoy, for a total of 28 ships sunk on 18/19 October, making this the deadliest two days of the battle of the Atlantic.[7] The surviving merchant ships were gathered up by the remaining escorts and brought into port several days later.
Merchant ships
[edit]This along with the * indicates that the ship was sunk
Name | Flag | Cargo | Fate | Date | Lived | Died | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aenos | ![]() |
Wheat | Sunk, U-38*[8] | 17 October | 25 | 4 | Straggler |
Assyrian | ![]() |
Grain | Sunk, U-101* | 19 October | 34 | 17 | Convoy commodore's ship[9] |
Beatus | ![]() |
Steel, timber, aircraft | Sunk, U-46* | 18 October | 37 | 0 | |
Blairspey | ![]() |
Timber | Damaged, U-101 Damaged, U-100 |
18 October 19 October |
34 | 0 | Reached port, repaired |
Boekelo | ![]() |
Timber | Damaged, U-100 Sunk, U-123* |
18 October 19 October |
25 | 0 | Straggler |
Botusk | ![]() |
Timber | Reached port | 42 | 0 | ||
Carsbreck | ![]() |
Timber | Damaged, U-38 | 18 October | 55 | 0 | Towed into port |
Clintonia | ![]() |
Pulpwood | Damaged, U-99 Sunk, U-123* |
19 October 19 October |
35 | 1 | |
SS Convallaria | ![]() |
Pulpwood | Sunk, U-46* | 18 October | 22 | 0 | |
Corinthic | ![]() |
Steel, scrap metal | Reached port | 21 | 0 | ||
Creekirk | ![]() |
Iron ore | Sunk, U-101* | 18 October | 0 | 36 | |
Dioni | ![]() |
Grain | Reached port | 82 | 0 | ||
Eaglescliffe Hall | ![]() |
Timber | Reached port | 64 | 0 | ||
Empire Brigade | ![]() |
Metals, ores | Sunk, U-99* | 19 October | 35 | 6 | |
Empire Miniver | ![]() |
Pig iron, steel | Sunk, U-99* | 19 October | 35 | 3 | |
Fiscus | ![]() |
Steel, timber, aircraft | Sunk, U-99* | 18 October | 1 | 38 | Straggler |
Flynderborg | ![]() |
Pulpwood | Reached port | 12 | 0 | ||
SS Gunborg | ![]() |
Pulpwood | Sunk, U-46* | 18 October | 23 | 0 | |
Havørn[10] | ![]() |
Pit props | Reached port | 53 | 0 | ||
Inger Elisabeth[11] | ![]() |
Pit props | Reached port | 44 | 0 | ||
Karlander[12] | ![]() |
Timber | Reached port | 92 | 0 | ||
Languedoc | ![]() |
Fuel oil | Sunk, U-48*[8] | 17 October | 39 | 0 | |
SS Niritos | ![]() |
Sulphur | Sunk, U-99* | 18 October | 27 | 1 | |
Scoresby | ![]() |
Pit props | Sunk, U-48*[8] | 17 October | 39 | 0 | |
SS Sedgepool | ![]() |
Wheat | Sunk, U-123* | 19 October | 36 | 3 | |
SS Shekatika | ![]() |
Pit props, steel | Damaged, U-123, U-100 Sunk, U-123* |
19 October | 36 | 0 | Joined from convoy SHX 76. 'Romper' (travelling ahead of the convoy) |
Snefjeld[13] | ![]() |
Timber | Sunk, U-99* | 19 October | 21 | 0 | |
Sneland I[14] | ![]() |
Sulphur | Reached port | 94 | 0 | ||
Soesterberg | ![]() |
Pit props | Sunk, U-101* | 19 October | 19 | 6 | |
Somersby | ![]() |
Flour | Reached port | 83 | 0 | ||
SS Thalia | ![]() |
Steel, lead, zinc | Sunk, U-99* | 19 October | 4 | 22 | |
Thorøy[15] | ![]() |
Fuel oil | Reached port | 63 | 0 | ||
SS Trevisa | ![]() |
Timber | Sunk, U-124* | 16 October | 14 | 7 | Straggler. First sinking. |
Trident | ![]() |
Steel, timber | Reached port | 43 | 0 | ||
Valparaiso | ![]() |
General cargo | Reached port | 14 | 0 | ||
Winona | ![]() |
Timber | Returned to port | 34 | 0 |
Escorts
[edit]Name | Class | Navy | With convoy | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
HMS Bluebell | Flower-class corvette | ![]() |
18–21 October | |
HMCS Elk | Armed yacht | ![]() |
5 –7 October | |
HMS Fowey | Shoreham-class sloop | ![]() |
18–21 October | |
HMS Heartsease | Flower-class corvette | ![]() |
18–21 October | Dispatched with Carsbreck, 18 October |
HMS Leith | Grimsby-class sloop | ![]() |
18–21 October | |
HMS Scarborough | Hastings-class sloop | ![]() |
5–21 October | Lost contact 17 October, unable to rejoin |
U-boats
[edit]Name | Commander | Sunk | Damaged | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
U-38 | Heinrich Liebe | 1 | 1 | |
U-46 | Engelbert Endrass | 3 | 0 | |
U-48 | Heinrich Bleichrodt | 2 | 0 | |
U-99 | Otto Kretschmer | 6 | 1 | |
U-100 | Joachim Schepke | 0 | 3 | |
U-101 | Fritz Frauenheim | 3 | 1 | |
U-123 | Karl-Heinz Moehle | 4 | 0 | |
U-124 | Georg-Wilhelm Schulz | 1 | 0 |
Footnotes
[edit]- ^ Canadian convoys
- ^ a b Hague 2000, pp. 133–138.
- ^ Battle of the Atlantic
- ^ a b c Convoy web
- ^ Sinking of Trevisa
- ^ Sinking of Aenos
- ^ a b Timeline of World War II
- ^ a b c Woodman 2013, p. 234.
- ^ Jordan 2006, p. 486.
- ^ D/S Havørn, warsailors.com
- ^ D/S Inger Elisabeth, warsailors.com
- ^ D/S Karlander, warsailors.com
- ^ D/S Snefjeld, warsailors.com
- ^ D/S Sneland I, warsailors.com
- ^ D/T Thorøy, warsailors.com
References
[edit]- Hague, Arnold (2000). The Allied Convoy System 1939–1945. London: Chatham. ISBN 1-86176-147-3.
- Jordan, Roger W. (2006) [1999]. The World's Merchant Fleets 1939: The Particulars and Wartime Fates of 6,000 Ships (2nd ed.). London: Chatham/Lionel Leventhal. ISBN 978-1-86176-293-1.
- Woodman, Richard (2013) [2004]. The Real Cruel Sea: The Merchant Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic 1939–1943 (3rd (repr.) Pen & Sword Maritime, Barnsley ed.). London: John Murray. ISBN 978-1-84884-415-5.
Further reading
[edit]- Lund, Paul; Ludlam, Harry (1973). The Night of the U-Boats. New English Library. ISBN 0-450-01833-4.
- Rohwer, Jürgen; Hümmelchen, Gerhard (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (3rd rev. ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
- Roskill, S. W. (1957) [1954]. Butler, J. R. M. (ed.). The War at Sea 1939–1945: The Defensive. History of the Second World War United Kingdom Military Series. Vol. I (4th impr. ed.). London: HMSO. OCLC 881709135. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022.
- Vat, Dan van der (1988). The Atlantic Campaign: World War II's Great Struggle at Sea. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 978-0-06-015967-2.